Category: GeneralListen up Microsoft Vista users! Call That Girl would be happy to assist you in upgrading to Windows 7, and ultimately help you avoid any possible glitches and irritating problems that might occur down the road.
If you are a Microsoft Vista user and you wish to upgrade, here is a simple list of instructions to follow.
1.) Back up your data! Even though a Windows 7 upgrade is easy and should not ruin your data, it’s always a good idea to back EVERYTHING up just in case. We like daily back ups at Call That Girl, but as much as we can lead a horse to water…well you know where I am going with this.
2.) Buy the Windows 7 upgrade online or at your favorite retail outlet. Prices are usually around $140.
OR
3.) Buy the Vista anytime upgrade.
Click Start/Control Panel/System, up near the top of the screen there will be a link that says “Upgrade Windows Vista”, this will take you to a new window that says “Windows Anytime Upgrade”.
Click on the link that says “Compare the editions of Windows Vista”. You will be redirected to a Microsoft website where you can check if your computer can run Windows 7, why upgrading to Windows 7 makes sense, and purchase Windows 7 online. You can then make your choice after getting any information you may need.
4.) Put in the disk or download and follow instructions. In about 10 minutes, you will have a fresh newly installed operating system!
5.) Do the Windows Update and get the Service Pack 1 and you are ready.
Everything should work fine, but you may need help with some of your programs, printers, etc. Call That Girl can help you with any software glitches or problems. Our staff is quite experienced handling these upgrades and we work very diligently in getting you up and running quickly. If you do require assistance with this installation we have good news for you. We want to offer you a special 10% computer repair discount to anyone who calls in for help.
Safe Computing,
-CTG Staff
*Article and tips written by Lisa Hendrickson, Richard Martin and Erik Anderson
Have you ever taken your computer into a repair shop, only to get home and plug ‘er in, just to find a few days later that the same problems keep recurring? Or perhaps you found even newer problems that are now making things even worse than before. I’m quite sure that this has happened to you in other services you have sought out before as well.
Like with plumbing repair, auto repair, or even those services related to your health. Like a dental visit for example… as just this week I went in to have an old cavity fixed (that didn’t even hurt initially…but then I got a cleaning, after which they found cavity, and ultimately fixed it). And now a day later, my tooth hurts more now than before I had initially gone in to the dentist. But I’m hoping that the pain will eventually just go away, as I am thinking this may just be the after effects of the drilling that are still wreaking havoc on my teeth. In any case, I will just go back in to have them take another look, especially if the pain becomes unbearable.
Or here is another example, a few weeks ago I had an oil change done, after which my oil light started to come on. I called the shop and they advised me to bring in my vehicle again. It turns out that they had forgotten to reset the oil change light, so the vehicle was prompting me that it was still in need of an oil change, when in reality it was not. No problem… it just required a “simple fix”, and I am hoping that there will be just as simple a fix for my tooth ache as well.
This principal holds true for computer repair as well. You may run into a minor issue or problem that may come back, even after you have brought in your computer for any needed repairs. At Call That Girl we always tell our clients to just call the shop right away and alert us of any new issues. I know this can be frustrating, as you may feel you just paid “good money” to have your system returned to you in its original state and without any additional problems. But I recommend you stay calm and pick up the phone and contact Call That Girl, so that we may have someone look into any additional “quick computer fixes” that may be necessary.
If a problem recurs what should I do?
Remember, sometimes it will just be a quick setting or application change that may be required, so it’s usually easiest for the company to remote in and assist, make any necessary changes, or for those that are more “hands on” we can always talk you through doing it yourself if you prefer.
Just like any great service provider, we rely and depend on client referrals and/or you’re spreading “the good word” as it were, on Call That Girl’s services and abilities. Most service related businesses would much rather you call them back about any issues, rather than having someone be angry with them, and not allowing a possible solution to a problem. So please remember, asking for added assistance is always the better option vs. just going away for good.
As always thank you for taking the time to review this article, and please contact us with any computer repair needs you have now or in the future.
Safe Computing,
-Lisa
…Or any of their products for that matter. Put simply, viruses, spyware, and malware get right through most free antivirus programs. And AVG 2011 is no exception, it’s one of the free products that we see most often when we remote into a computer that has viruses on it. Not only is AVG 2011 a bad and heavily bogged down product, but it is just not worth the download, free or paid. (And in our opinion AVG 8.0 used to be one of the best). But just like with Norton (we consider AVG Norton’s little brother) or Symantec products, they both took a once good product, weighed it down, and ultimately just ended up ruining it. Sometimes it’s just right to leave things well enough alone.
Check out two Google searches we did:
Here are a few things you should be aware of with AVG 2011
Stay away from AVG 2011
Call That Girl advises that you skip ALL FREE products and be smart and purchase products that are already being proven to work–such as our SuperAntispyware tools. The tools we use at CTG to remove viruses are a mix of our own knowledge, a few fixer programs and SuperAntiSpyware. This blog is not a push to have you buy our favorite products, but to let you know that for the low cost of $40, you can buy a great product, that protects and detects any possible threats with real-time protection–and it’s one of the tools we use at Call That Girl to help your computer be free of these attacks.
If you are a do-it-yourself type, here are the tools you will need to do the removal of AVG and install and purchase the SuperAntiSpyware yourself.
Download SuperAntispyware for free here
Pay for the $40 LIFETIME license for Superantispyware here
Try removing AVG 2011 from your Add/Remove programs first, if it fails…then try the removal tools listed below.
AVG Removal Tool here (32 bit)
AVG Removal Tool here (64 bit)
You will need to configure the SuperAntiSpyware program once you download it. We will have updated instructions here today, so check back.
If you do not understand which version or “bit” your computer requires, call us and we can help you figure that out for free. Just call 612-865-4475. If you want help with uninstalling AVG 2011 and to get SuperAntiSpyware installed, this can be done for $32.50 by one of our help desk techs. It should just take about 15 minutes to do this. Just $40 for the product, and $32.50 for a qualified tech to install…That’s a one time price of only $72.50, so you end up never having to pay for antivirus protection again. More than fair, considering the possible alternatives, don’t you think?
Contact us below or call for a quick appointment so CTG can get you and your system protected today! 612-865-4475
Check out this picture of a laptop that was actually recovered from a house fire.
You are going to find this hard to believe, but the computer repair tech that worked on this laptop was actually able to retrieve all of the data off the hard drive. Not everyone would have been so lucky.
At CTG we are often asked if anything can be salvaged from a severely damaged laptop. And the answer is, each scenario can be different. You might be able to salvage a part off of a recently damaged laptop, but in the end what will probably matter most is whether your data can be saved.
We depend on our computers to keep all of our memories, taxes, personal documents, work documents, notes, calendars, emails, family weekend gatherings, weddings, videos, movie collections, just about everything we do in today’s fast moving technology world.
If your laptop was accidentally dropped, in an unfortunate house fire, stolen, or the hard drive crashes repeatedly, what would you do without your data? Starting from scratch can be pretty scary.
This is why CTG always recommends that you back up your data and computers regularly, and if you need assistance please Call That Girl today so we can assist.
Call us to schedule an appointment for a “cost efficient” 30 minute session to insure your hard drive is backed up daily, weekly, or monthly. After all, your “stuff” is very important to us.
If your laptop is damaged severely, it can still be recycled. Please visit http://www.ecyclingcentral.com to find a location convenient for you where you can drop off any laptop or other device. Typically the charge for dropping off a laptop is around $20, but well worth the good karma.
To book an appointment with CTG please fill out our contact form below or simply call 612-865-4475 today.
Ah, this is a common problem with many our clients.
Does this happen to you? You’re typing like a mad person and all of a sudden you see your mouse/cursor move to another spot on your screen. And you’ve noticed for awhile now.
This is a common problem with laptop users and it actually has a medical term associated with it.
Smallhandwristlaptoptouchpad Disorder, otherwise known as SHLTP.
Ok, that’s a joke.
What is really happening is that your wrists or hands are touching the “touchpad” on the laptop ,the little square soft area under your space bar. This is a hardware piece of your laptop that you can use as a mouse instead of attaching a mouse. Not everyone knows this but if you touch it while you’re typing, the cursor/mouse will move on you.
The people having most of the problems with this are women with smaller hands. Some of the touchpads on laptops are wider or more delicate to the touch so you may not even see this problem.
You can disable this function or just keep aware of this and maybe you can avoid touching the touchpad.
If you want help with disabling this feature, Call That Girl today and we can remote in your computer and disable it for you.
This weeks blog is a warning to all of my readers of a virus and spyware phone call scam that is going around and this is real folks, not fake. No need to check with snopes.com. I am going to ask after reading this, you DO forward this blog link to your friends/family/college kids, etc. Anyone who has a computer and has a phone.
Here is the situation.
One of my networking colleagues calls me a few days ago to tell me that she got a call from someone (named Mark, with an accent appearing to be from India) who said she was sending out “spyware” and they needed to remote in and do a check on her computer. They also said they charged $129. They also said they were representing “Windows Microsoft”.
I called their number on their website to check them out as asked a few questions. They told me that they call people with viruses that are Windows Microsoft owners to alert them, it was very fishy. They also said that once the client agrees to the service, they will not give back refunds. It appeared to be a smaller call center by the sounds in the back and when I asked for a supervisor, the first guy on the phone said, “She wants to talk to a supervisor” and hands over the phone to the supervisor.
First thing folks, no one should ever call you about computer issues but maybe your internet provider or your friends with these following reasons:
Now, moving on…
My networking colleagues moves on to tell me that this company started installing programs and while she watched them work, she took very good notes on what they did. One thing though that happened that caused me a lot of concern was that they talked her into doing things that she said she wasn’t sure she should do, such as log into her bank account to pay them (basically, so they could see her account number) and I’m quite sure they put in a keylogger program (to get her password).
After 2 hours, she wasn’t comfortable with the call, their service and the whole thing so she reported it to her bank to file a discrepancy. She told the company she was going to do it and they said she would see a credit on her account, but she didn’t feel comfortable yet again with that.
Unfortunately, she got scammed. But this is getting more common as I did some research on the internet. Trust me, no one from Microsoft is going to be calling you about anything, PERIOD. They simply do not call you unless you ask them for help with your computer. And you will know that because you contacted them first.
Here are a few things to watch for:
As I hate to say that it’s the “people from India” doing this, this is the current scam and I am just playing virus advocate to help spread the word on what’s going on.
